“WEATHERING LIFE’S STORMS”

SERMON FOR ST. JAMES AUGUST 9,2026

MATTHEW 14: 22-33 PROPER 14 YEAR A

JAN JORDAN EPISCOPAL LAY PREACHER. Obl/OSB

“Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” (v 27)

Today’s Gospel from Matthew is a very familiar story of how the faith of the disciples in Jesus our Lord continues to grow and develop.

The miracle of Jesus walking on the water.

Our passages are rich with the diversity of God’s creation and the disciples having courage to face a new challenge - in spite of fear and apprehension of not knowing what lies ahead. That their eyes would open even more to keeping their focus on Jesus – the Son of God and not on themselves.

Last Sunday we heard about the miracle of the feeding of the 5000+ followers with only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. Jesus’ disciples couldn’t fathom any possible way to feed all of these people gathered on the mountainside. They had been hungry to hear the Words of Jesus and now were physically hungry. The disciples wanted the easy way out and send all the people on their way.

Jesus instructed them, His disciples to feed the crowd. Imagine how their eyes were open when they found the 5 little loaves of bread and the 2 fish for Jesus to pray over. And that this meager amount multiplied into enough food to satisfy all those present and still were able to fill 12 baskets with left-overs. Faith grows.

Today’s Gospel picks up immediately after the feeding of the 5000. Jesus still needs to get away to be by himself to pray. (v 23) He had not yet had time to mourn the death of John the Baptist, his cousin. In fact, he had been heading up to a secluded place in the mountain to pray when all the crowds came to him.

Verse 22 tells us that Jesus “made” His disciples get into a boat to cross over to the other side or the West side of the Sea of Galilee – also called Lake Galilee. Just as he encouraged their faith with the feeding of the 5000, he is encouraging them to lean on their faith in Him to set out alone.

Jesus went up the mountain to pray by himself.

I would imagine that Jesus’ directive to head out on their own would cause the disciples some concerns and apprehension.

Not that they didn’t know how to sail their wooden boat with those who were fisherman using their skills but that they would be going into uncharted, deeper waters and it was late in the day. They probably would have rather stayed on dry land to rest until morning before setting sail.

The Sea of Galilee is 13 miles long and 7 miles across. The width would be about the distance from here to Arlington.

To add to their misgivings about this journey, there was always the possibility of a storm brewing which was not unusual for a fast storm to develop on the Sea of Galilee due to its low-lying location between the mountains. Earlier in the Gospel of Matthew - Chapter 8 -tells us that the disciples had already weathered a storm while on Lake Galilee but Jesus was in the boat with them at that time and calmed the storm and their fearfulness. Perhaps they were worried about what kinds of situations might be awaiting them on the other shore and what they would do without their Rabbi if he didn’t catch up to them.

Another factor that may have been in the minds of the Twelve could be that according to some writers there were cultural stories about the sea being depicted as a monstrous beast due to the fierce storms. Ray Vander Laan, teacher and historian who created the series “That the World May Know” said, “Set amidst this culture, the Jewish people also feared the sea. They were rooted in the wilderness, and they saw the sea as an alien and threatening power. Few could swim, and even fisherman avoided deep water.” He continues “Not surprisingly, biblical writers often used the sea to describe terror and danger. And in Jesus' day, Jewish people would have recognized the sea as a symbol of chaos and hell.” https://www.thattheworldmayknow.com/when-storms-come-article

I’m not much of a water person being born and raised in the “wilderness” of Nebraska. We did have a little creek that ran through the farm and the bigger Logan creek was our West border. We had a swimming hole in the Logan and we fished from the bank. These days I love to be an observer of the beauty of any body of water and to sit by my back yard pond listening to the waterfall, watching the gold fish.

The summer before my senior year in nurses training, I was invited on a road trip with a fellow student and her family to the West coast. My first long trip without any of my family and my first experience with the unbelievable vastness and power of the Pacific Ocean. It definitely wasn’t the Logan creek!!

Well, I found enough courage and maybe wasn’t so smart 😊- to try body surfing with a heavy-duty type raft at Huntington beach with my friends. Me! – not a very brave person and really not a good swimmer but I challenged myself. The first couple of rides back to the beach on the smooth, rolling waves were beautiful and exciting The last one –not so much! That ride was very dramatic as all of sudden high, heavy waves came rolling in and Jan came rolling in as well. A very scary experience! I was lucky I didn’t break my neck and that was the end of my braveness for playing in the ocean.

You can believe that God heard prayers of thanks for keeping me safe. Psalm 46 verse 1 continues to be a favorite of mine – “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” And I can tell you that I much prefer riding horses – not waves!

The disciples were holding on for dear life, battling to keep the boat afloat in the deep, dark waters of Lake Galilee against the strong winds pushing battering waves onto the boat. It was now between 3 and 6 am. They had been struggling all night.

That’s when they thought they saw “a ghost” walking towards them on the sea. Remember their probable concerns before setting out, their fear of the situation and how extremely exhausted they must have been.

Then they hear the voice of Jesus through the turmoil of wind and waves, “take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” (v 27)

“Take heart” or in other words “have courage” and Peter the “rock”, the leader of the twelve who always keeps things interesting, spoke up needing a little more certainty that it was truly Jesus. He asked Jesus to command him to come to Him and Jesus said “Come.”

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark (6: v 45-56) and John (6: 16-21) all talk about Jesus’ appearance to the disciples walking on the water. Matthew is the only one that tells us about Peter.

Peter’s courage and faith in His Lord allowed him to walk on the water until he lost his focus on Jesus, his life-preserver and started to sink. But in his wavering faith, he still called out “Lord, save me!” and Jesus “immediately reached out his hand and caught him.” (v 31)

I can hear Jesus say lovingly to Peter, “you of little faith, why did you doubt.” (v 31) Jesus, once again with His authority over nature, calmed the wind. All the disciples were witnesses to this miracle, were strengthened in their faith and worshipped Him, “Truly you are the Son of God.” (v 33)

The challenges and stormy times to our faith are real as well. Life can certainly be scary. There are challenges with ourselves, our families, with our country and the world. There are challenges within our faith community. How do we weather these storms? Where do we place our focus in these times of adversity and uncertainty? What do we do to find our courage, our life preserver to stay afloat in times of life’s turbulent weather?

We pray - knowing that it is God who is bigger than any storm we may face. That our anchor is in the Lord and not in ourselves. That he is always with us.

Isaiah 41:10 (ESV)  

“fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Debi Thomas, who was recently ordained as an Episcopal priest and serves in California, wrote the following in an earlier essay for an online magazine called “Journey with Jesus.” It is titled “Out on the Water”;

“…Jesus never stops moving towards the ones he loves.  He never stops crossing the dark water to come to where we are.  Neither our fearfulness nor our faithlessness ever alters his steady approach.  We are the ones he’s bound for.  Our flailing bodies are the ones he pulls out of the water.  Ours is the boat he climbs into.  It is for us that he calls out across the terrifying waves, again and again and again: “Take courage.  It is I.  Don’t be afraid.”

Amen

CEV Study Bible 1995

NKJV Study Bible 2018

Feasting on the Word Year A Vol 3 p 332-337

https://www.journeywithjesus.net/essays/2709-out-on-the-water (Written by Debi Thomas. Published: 02 August 2020) Ordained Episcopal Priest June 2026

https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-stories/jesus-walks-on-water.html

https://www.thattheworldmayknow.com/when-storms-come-article

https://www.understandchristianity.com/timelines/chronology-jesus-life-ministry/